courtneyb

Weekend already?

Friday, June 25th, 2010 | Oh, Baby! | 3 Comments

The week flew by. Kate had her first pediatricians appointment with Dr Verma on Monday. She had gained four ounces since the visiting nurse saw her on Friday; my girl can pack on the weight like her mom. But we’re happy about that. Verma sent us to Dr. Robert Kitei, an ophthalmologist to have her eye looked at. Seems she has a persistent hyaloid artery in her right eye. He told us to Google it, but when we look to know it is not PHPV. So we get to visit him a few more times so he can take a look every few weeks to see if it is changing. Usually this artery atrophies in the third trimester, so hopefully it will do that and not cause her any problems beyond the nearsightedness she seems to have in that eye already. I’m hoping she doesn’t have to get glasses, but if that is the worst of it, we’ll deal.

Other than that excitement, things have been pretty quiet. We are keeping her on her 12-3-6-9 schedule as much as possible. She generally wakes us up for the 3am and the others we generally wake her up. She’s so funny though because she cries out around 3am and as soon as we get in the room she stops. Really the only time she really cried was when Dr Kitei used a clamp to hold her little eye open so he could get a better look. She had deadening drops in her eye and he assured us it didn’t hurt, but she cried anyway. Until the moment he took it off and she immediately stopped.

It was nice to have Kelvin home this week. Beyond helping with baby, he was able to get some things done around the house. Zach even came up yesterday to help with a few yard projects and they power washed the house this morning.

So we have the weekend and then Kate and I will be on our own during the day while Kelvin works his 10 hour days. I think I need to start a list of little projects I want to accomplish (as soon as I get the last few thank you notes written) so I can be productive while she sleeps. And maybe I should make a list of projects for her Gram & Pop when they come to visit the first week in July.

Tags: kate, Oh, Baby!

Home, Sweet Home

Sunday, June 20th, 2010 | Oh, Baby! | 3 Comments

We did get to bring Kate home Thursday. It was the first of many times that we altered our plans for our little bee. Kelvin bad planned for Thursday to be one of our last couple outings for a while. He bought me tickets to see Brooks & Dunn’s Last Rodeo tour in Hershey and we planned to stay the night in Harrisburg. Instead, we got to bring our tiny girl home. The fortunate thing is that even though Kelvin prepaid our room, it looks like Hilton is going to refund the cost if we provide documentation. And my super sleuth husband is also trying to see if Ticketmaster will do the same. Every little bit helps; especially since we see the rate at which she goes through diapers.

We stopped on the way to pick up burgers and fries from Five Guys and shakes from Chick-fil-a that we ate once we got home. There was also a quick stop off at Walgreens to pick up the poly-vi-sol vitamins we have to give her every morning.

Friday morning a visiting nurse came by to check Kate’s weight. She was back up to 5 lbs even. Everything else looked good for both of us; in addition to checking the baby’s temp and weight she checked my temp, blood pressure and legs for signs of clots. It was nice to have someone check in on us.

The past few days have been full of pumping, feeding, changing stinky diapers, cleaning bottles and pump parts, sleeping and just enjoying our new addition. I think one of my favorite things has been letting her sleep on me. She spent well over an hour this morning with her head up on my right shoulder, her body tucked between my boobie and her feet stretched down on my left hip. It felt so nice that she was so relaxed and comfortable there on me.

We spent the rest of Father’s Day just hanging out. I’ve managed to cook a few yummy meals since we’ve been home. I’m relieve that it seems my terrible cooking streak is over. For the month or so before she was born I was having a terrible time cooking. Everything just seemed off; I would burn things or spill stuff or just not bring things together link normal. But last night I made pesto for the first time ever and used it for veggie flat breads and a small side of pasta with chicken. Then today I did bbq boneless pork ribs with broccoli, carrots, fries and a yummy salad with peppered mozzarella, figs and radishes. It sounds like an odd combination, but it was rather yummy.

Tomorrow is our first pediatrician appointment in the morning. I can’t wait to see how much she weighs.

Tags: home, kate

Two steps forward, one back

Monday, June 7th, 2010 | Oh, Baby! | 6 Comments

These are the days all of you NICU graduates warned me about. We had a great morning. My mom and I made the trek over for Kate’s 9 am care time. Nurse Rose already had one of the comfy chairs and a set of the privacy screens over by her bed. She was alert and hungry so after a poopy diaper change, I got her out and attempted breastfeeding for the first time. She was amazing, latching on almost immediately. Who knows how much she got down, but it was the practice I was most interested in and I followed it with 15ml from a bottle to make sure we knew she got something to eat — a step forward.

I also took some photos of her with her handmade bee hat that Kelly made. I’m afraid she will forever hold on to the nickname “bee”.

I spent the rest of the day getting some things done around the house and responding to some work email. Most everything is washed and ready for her to come home whenever that might be.

Excited by the morning, Kelvin and I went back for her 6pm care time with hopes we would try feeding again. We arrived to Kate without her bili-pad; her levels were good enough to take her off — a step forward.

That excitement was overshadowed for me by the fact that her gavage was back. Her nurse said that she had petered out with her bottle and had only taken 15ml from her in a half hour– a step back.

Kelvin held her while they added my milk to her tube. She seemed super sleepy and not as animated as usual. You can tell the tube makes her uncomfortable. Hopefully this will be short lived and she’ll bounce back quickly. She’s got some more progress to make; they’re working on cooling her crib a degree at a time. I’m looking forward to her being in an open air crib, and closer to the exit door.

Tags: bili, gavage, kate, NICU